1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a folding top assembly for watercraft.
2. Description of the Background of the Invention
Deck, pontoon, and similar type watercraft are often equipped with a folding top, commonly referred to as a bimini top. The top includes struts that support a covering, typically of canvas, over some or all of the occupants when the top is deployed in the fully opened position to shade the occupants from the sun and to provide limited protection of the occupants during inclement weather. The top may be folded and fully retracted against the front or rear of the watercraft on cool days when direct sun is desirable, but many users also deploy the top in a so-called ‘radar’ position in which the top is folded, but the struts are deployed in an intermediate, angled position, thus providing for direct sun but also permitting easy access to all of the seats of the watercraft. As disclosed in the above-identified U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/148,073 and 11/192,383, the folding top may be power operated. For convenience, it is desirable to be able to operate the top from a position away from the watercraft. This is particularly convenient in rear entry watercraft, the rear entry of which is blocked when the top is in the fully retracted position.
Watercraft having bimini tops are commonly transported on roads (for example, on trailers), and the bimini top must be restrained in the down position during road transport. Commonly, the prior art (such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,051,669) includes manually placed and removed devices to restrain the bimini top, which are obviously inconvenient and take time to place and remove. Also, for safety reasons, it is desirable, with powered bimini tops, to immediately reverse the top as it is traveling toward the fully retracted position, if the struts encounter an obstruction, so that the struts will not be damaged. Finally, bimini tops commonly have secondary struts which are pivotally connected to the main struts and provide additional support for the canvas top, and which must be folded against their corresponding main struts when the top is moved toward the folded or down position. A prior art design disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,983,716 provides a torsion spring to retract the secondary struts, but this device concentrates the retracting force at the end of the strut attached to the main strut and is relatively ineffective.